


Lost My Pipe, Kept the Dream

by Pyreof_Books



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Andreil Week 2018, Dream!Neil, Fluff, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-04 19:31:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15154073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyreof_Books/pseuds/Pyreof_Books
Summary: Neil has trouble sleeping and Andrew unknowingly rescues him.Andreil Week 2018 Day Three





	Lost My Pipe, Kept the Dream

Anyone in the world could tell you what blood tastes like. There was a tang to it; metallic. Often compared to copper, sometimes iron (to those who really thought they could tell). Neil knew what blood tasted like in the intimate way a boxer would- but he wouldn’t bother to take the time to describe it. Neil also had perfect recollection of the smell of burning hair, the sight of a gleaming blade, and the grip of the knife and force required to cut the hide of a pig from hock to hip. He could almost feel the tension in his wrist thinking about it.  
These are the sensations he woke up with that Spring morning, two months and two years away from Baltimore. The throbbing pulse in his ears was almost too unbelievably real to be his.   
The initial panic of his dream subsided, an ugly delve into his memories that dragged Nathaniel’s past kicking and screaming to the front of his mind. Neil clamped down on that knowledge, but the mash of his teeth felt too much like trying to hold back whimpers as his mother sewed him shut so he let out a fierce breath instead.   
Neil Josten. Starting striker for the Palamento Foxes Exy team. Captain. Junior year Linguistics and Mathematics double major. Currently participating in ‘nothing’ with goalie Andrew Minyard.   
The familiar mantra calmed him down marginally. Andrew was still in bed asleep, Kevin in the same state of unconsciousness. It was dark in the room. The clock by Neil’s head displayed 3:23. After several long, unsuccessful minutes of trying to fall back asleep with Lola and his mother’s voice becoming entangled in his head, Neil got up and moved to the living room, hoping to not disturb anyone.   
Neil had just finished a glass of water and was staring into the black TV screen from the beanbag whilst imagining every horror his father had almost committed when Andrew- bleary eyed and gorgeously ruffled- came in the door. Neil didn’t say anything to him, just stared as he usually would, but he felt Andrew knew he wasn’t really ‘fine’.  
Andrew didn’t need words to communicate, though. He dragged the other bean bag closer and sat with him, both of them now staring at the silent TV. Thunder boomed in the distance. It would rain later, which was good. Rain was good to go on the run in, if someone was after you. Not in a town, where people may question why someone was choosing to go out in that weather, but if eyesight needed hindering, or a car fire needed extinguishing, or blood needed to disappear… rain was good for that.   
Neil liked to run in the rain, contrary to popular safety regulations opinion. It cooled him even when the heat built in his muscles and made his shaggy hair easy to slick away from his face. He liked the way the water droplets were soothing hands on his scars instead of vicious blades and hot, dripping blood.  
“I used to jolt out of bed to the sound of thunder,” Andrew didn’t look away from the TV as he said this, offering no more and not changing his expression in the slightest. Neil thought he seemed peaceful.  
“I liked it when thunder was loud. If I focused on it, I could drown out the other sounds in the house. Even screams,” Neil knew Andrew didn’t have to say anything; he felt he had to share some truth for his honesty. “At motels, I wasn’t allowed to stare out the window to watch the clouds roll, but on the car rides that was fine.”  
Though Neil hadn’t turned from the screen, he could see Andrew shift to look at him from the corner of his eye. His usually inexpressive facade was diminished. His lips were in a small pout and his eyes were squinted slightly, brows vaguely furrowed. Neil thought it was adorable. And unusual, as even though Andrew tended to trust him more with his facial expressions, they were still limited to minute changes generally in the sneer department. This was a more honest expression.  
“You were supposed to be a pipedream. Now you’re just a dream,” Andrew told him, still staring at Neil’s face.  
Neil let his mouth turn up just the slightest. “Is that an upgrade or a downgrade?” He could still smell smoke and blood and there was an ache in his legs where he imagined the axe swinging down, but being able to see and hear Andrew was his tether in the storm. Neil rested his hand by Andrew’s on his bean bag. “Yes or no?” Neil’s quiet voice seemed smaller when the thunder struck again, closer this time.   
Without hesitation, Andrew grabbed his hand and laced their fingers together, not firm enough that they each couldn’t pull away easily, but gently so that their palms cupped each other gently.   
“Why are you here?” Andrew asked, breaking the steady silence they had been held in for a minute.  
“I keep hearing my parents or Lola’s voices when I try to sleep,” Neil looked into Andrews eyes as he spoke. “Right now, it almost feels like he really did chop my legs with his axe.” Neil ran his hand over his thigh, turning more towards the other bean bag sluggishly.   
Andrew blinked at him a few times before slipping out of his bean bag and kneeling in front of Neil. He stared Neil down for a few moments before bringing his free hand close to his thigh.  
“Yes or no?” He asked, face unwavering.  
“Yes,” Neil thought for a moment that his hand might hurt, that there was blood under his shorts and stitches to contend with, but even if there were Andrew’s hands would feel like a cure.   
Andrew’s hand came down slowly on his leg, Neil tracking its movement with his eyes absentmindedly. He expected a sting when they connected, but all he felt was the warmth of Andrew’s palm. A sigh flew past his lips. His hand rubbed circles on the spot it landed on, his thumb sweeping out to caress his inner thigh before moving higher and repeating. Andrew moved his head to hover over Neil’s other leg, eye’s asking a silent ‘yes or no’ to which Neil breathed out ‘yes’. Andrew kissed from his knee to his hip just as softly as his hand moved up the same path on the other leg. Neil found himself melting further into the bean bag, mouth open and breathing in in time with his heartbeat. He watched Andrew all the while.   
There was nothing sexual in these touches, nothing but the assurance that there was still feeling in the carefully sculpted muscles Neil had been reliant on for so many years and the knowledge that Andrew wanted to touch; he wanted to make Neil know he was safe. Though Neil did file away this lovely imagery.   
Neil lifted his torso up and leaned over Andrew’s head. “Yes or no?” He whispered into his hair, one hand coming to rest near his head, the other still wrapped in Andrew’s grasp.  
Andrew looked up at him. “Yes.”  
Neil let his hand fall into the blond locks and pressed his lips on the top of his head, breathing in nothing but smell of Andrew and his shampoo. The thunder was louder now, pocketing the boys in its sound. Rain splattered against the windows. They came to rest like that, both still except for the shallow rise and fall of their chests. Andrew pulled back first.  
“Bed?” Neil could see the exhaustion on Andrew’s face.  
Andrew nodded and stood, tugging Neil by the hand and helping him rise to his feet as he swayed. Neil felt heavy and lethargic, like he could sleep on his feet with Andrew to direct his body.  
They went into the room like that, and when Neil went to go to his bed, Andrew just pulled his hand and gestured to his top bunk. Neil grabbed his pillow and let Andrew lead him up, releasing hands only as they settled into the sheets. Andrew kept his back to the wall and Neil faced him, staring obviously but Andrew seemed to accept it. They fell asleep with their pinkies overlapping.  
***  
Andrew drifted to wakefulness about five minutes before the alarms were set to go off, as usual. He kept his eyes closed, opting to maintain the peaceful energy still in his body than open them to the new day. In his mind, he played the dream he had last night, where he and Neil rested in the living room and shared truths in the dark. What a strange thing, to have those striking blue eyes focused on him, but still distant, only to have them clear more as the dream waned. The feel of the muscles of Neil’s legs and his hand was still engraved into Andrew’s palms and lips.   
He picked his arm up to rest it over his eyes when he felt the shifting weight of someone in his bed and his eyes snapped open, his arm now ready to push the intruder. He was met with hypnotizing eyes staring at him, and his brain quickly pieced together it was Neil in his bed with him, staring, his red hair shining in the morning light.  
They didn’t speak for a moment, giving Andrew time to still his pounding heart back to the relaxed state he was in before hand.   
“G’morning, ‘Drew,” Neil said in a muffled yawn into his pillow.   
“I thought you were a dream,” Andrew said, his hand falling back to overlap with Neil’s.  
“You never did tell me if that was an upgrade or not,” Neil frowned slightly. “Do you want me to go?”  
Maybe it was the fact that Andrew had lost some sleep from being up with Neil, or because he knew Neil had had a nightmare last night, or simply because Neil had kissed him on the head and held him like something precious, but Andrew said, “No, I like this.”  
For the space of a breath, neither said anything. Andrew was sure his heart stopped pumping blood for a moment. Neil’s eyes went wide, like he was trying to see more than what the words Andrew just said revealed. Andrew wouldn’t take them back, but Neil was practically gaping. Then, he smiled. A faint blush bloomed on the apples of his cheeks, his wide grin pushing the scars up. Andrew felt his face and neck heating at the unabsolved happiness on display.  
“Shut up,” He said, reaching to push his cheek aside but coming to cup it instead. Neil smiled harder.  
It was the perfect way to start the day, this idiot beside him, the thunder overshadowing the annoying ringtone set for Kevin’s alarm, his hand on some part of Neil. Andrew was relaxed, it was raining, and Neil’s infectious happiness bubbled in his chest. The dream he thought he had with Neil was the best he'd ever dreamt; he should have known Neil was too good for it.   
After scattered morning kisses, practice, and the days classes, Neil went for a run in the pouring rain so he could come back to the dorm to live in Andrew’s warmth.


End file.
